Sunrise clinic renamed for Bill Kling, veterans advocate

SUNRISE — Those who knew Bill Kling agree that in dedicating more than three decades of his life to the cause of military veterans, the tireless community activist never sought recognition or glory.

But Kling, the longtime head of the Broward County Veterans Council who died last year at the age of 84, got a bit of that anyway Sunday at a ceremony to rename the VA outpatient clinic in Sunrise the William "Bill" Kling VA Clinic.

"In my dad's wildest dreams, I don't think he ever imagined a day such as this," Steven Kling told about 200 people who gathered at the 98,000-square-foot facility known since its 2008 opening as the Broward County VA Outpatient Clinic.

"He would be very proud."

The renaming of the clinic comes as a result of a bill introduced in U.S. House of Representatives by South Florida Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, of Weston, and Ted Deutch of Boca Raton, both of whom knew Kling well for his work with the Democratic Party.

Similar legislation was sponsored in the Senate by Florida Sen. Bill Nelson.

In speaking of Kling, both Wasserman Schultz and Deutch recalled his understated but effective lobbying style.

"It always seemed like he was just in the neighborhood, and just popped in," said Wasserman Schultz. "But it was never just an accident. He was always peddling something, and that was to improve the lives of veterans."

As a boy, Steven Kling said he came to understand early that his father, a Navy veteran of World War II, felt a burning desire to help others. From his television repair shop in the Bronx, he made house calls in neighborhoods where other service people did not go, said Kling.

"He just always wanted to help," said Kling, who lives in Wayne, N.J.

When he moved to South Florida in the early 1970s, Kling ran Perfect Television, on Broward Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. He also spent two decades working as a process server for the Broward Sheriff's Office.

He was a political activist as well, serving as president of the Plantation Democratic Club for more than 20 years.

But improving health and educational benefits to veterans was his passion. He helped open the Oakland Park VA Outpatient Clinic more than two decades ago, and when that building began to deteriorate, he worked to build the facility that now bears his name.

Michael Weiss, 71, and Morry Goldfarb, 80, knew Kling through their membership in the Jewish War Veterans. "He never raised his voice," said Weiss, who lives in Vero Beach. "He was quietly persuasive, and persistent. And he was the go-to guy if you wanted something done."

Added Goldfarb, of Delray Beach: "In a nine-day week, he worked eight days. Helping veterans was his calling."